Group listening solution Sounddrop.fm has made the jump from Spotify application to a free iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app. A competitor to rival services Turntable.fm and Rolling.fm, the software program also lets users create listening rooms where friends can tune into streaming music selections.

Billed as a “social jukebox” by its creators, Sounddrop.fm requires a Facebook login and premium Spotify account to enjoy, with the latter priced at $9.99 a month. But subscribers gain the option to join rooms sorted by musical genre – including pop, hip-hop and dubstep – or enter those created by Facebook friends and groove along with featured tracks. As with similar services, listening rooms can host dozens of users who can chat about songs, field requests from Spotify’s millions-strong catalog or vote tracks up so that they play sooner.

Among a growing breed of new social listening apps such as plug.dj (which lets you play video as well as music for friends), it underscores software developers’ growing penchant for making music a shared experience. With connectivity and social media major themes for the high-tech world in 2012, it’s only natural that a new genotype of music app is rapidly emerging that capitalizes on music’s ability to bring people together.